The demand for compact camera systems, and thus compact lens systems, delivering high performance is increasing with the growing use of imaging systems in a wide variety of applications. Such applications are found in areas such as consumer electronics, machine vision, automotive, and medical diagnostics and procedures.
Medical endoscopes used to examine an interior part of the human body constitute an example with challenging requirements to the size of the camera system. The camera system, including at least an image sensor, a lens system, and electronics, must fit within the area to be examined. Additionally, the camera system is often guided to the area of interest via passageways, such as an artery, which in itself imposes size constraints. Concurrently, high optical performance of the lens system of a medical endoscope camera system is desirable for achieving the goal of the procedure, for example an accurate diagnosis or a successful operation. However, the spatial requirements imposed by the use scenario limits the achievable performance of medical endoscope camera systems. Likewise, the size of endoscope cameras limits the use of medical endoscopes.